LeBron James confirmed the one thing we know about the 39-year-old All-Star: He doesn’t have many years remaining.
He also said he hasn’t decided how he wants to exit: With a Jordan or Kobe-style farewell tour, or just shock the league and walk away.
“I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left. I know it’s not that man,” LeBron said Sunday, meeting with the media before what will be his record 20th NBA All-Star Game. “I also don’t know if I will… I was asked this question a couple days ago. Will you kind of take the farewell tour, or will you kind of just Tim Duncan it?
“I’m 50-50, I’m going to be honest, because there’s times when I feel like I guess I owe it to my fans that have been along this journey with me for two decades plus, to be able to give them that moment where it’s every city and whatever the case may be and they give you your flowers or whatever the case may be. That seems cool.
“But the other side of I’ve never been that great with accepting like praise. It’s a weird feeling for me. I never really talked about it much, but it’s just a weird feeling for me. So to go in each city, if that’s the case — I don’t know. I’ve seen Mike’s, I’ve seen Kobe’s. I’ve seen a lot of guys. I just don’t know how much I — how I’d feel. I don’t know if I’d feel great about it.”
If one were cynical, one would suggest that the money to be made on a farewell tour documentary — put together by his production company — is too much just to walk away from.
We can all hope that he has that choice, that an injury doesn’t rob him of the ability to walk away on his own terms. He has earned that right, but the basketball gods are not always kind.
To that end, LeBron said he got treatment on his ankle (which kept him out of the Lakers’ final game before the break in Utah) and that he was “trying to get my ankle as strong and as back to where I feel confident that I can finish off this last third of the season.” He said he would get more treatment this week.
Speculation has been flying in league circles about LeBron possibly leaving the Lakers this offseason — he has a $51.4 million player option — although that feels more like a leverage play to get the front office to act than anything else. LeBron briefly touched on the idea of ending his career as a Laker.
“I am a Laker, and I am happy and been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way,” LeBron said. “But I don’t have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I’ll be in. Hopefully it is with the Lakers. It’s a great organization and so many greats. But we’ll see.
“I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it’s coming. It’s coming, for sure.”
